The Future of the United States Depends on an Anti-Venom Factory in Australia

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Of all the State Department documents yet loosed on the world by WikiLeaks, none will give critics as much ammo as the one containing a comprehensive list of facilities around the world that are “critical” to the national security of the United States  otherwise known as “places terrorists should blow up.” But some of the information is illuminating. Why, for example, was an anti-snake-venom factory in Australia deemed important enough for inclusion on the list? Because, according to the document, it is the sole supplier of CroFab, an anti-venom for rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths. And yet, only 8,000 Americans are bitten by poisonous snakes every year. This means either, (a) the list uses a pretty low bar for what constitutes “critical to national security,” or (b) terrorists are planning to simultaneously pull a Snakes on a Plane scenario for the whole country, perhaps as a means of ironic retribution for Snakes on aPlane.